A: Investors have been trying hard to find investments that are as safe as Treasuries but offer more lucrative yields.

It's hard to blame investors for being discouraged with record low yields on Treasuries securities. But in searching for alternatives to bonds, investors have made many false assumptions about what assets are truly safe and how they might react if interest rates were to rise.

Perhaps the best example of "safe" stocks that haven't acted as such are utilities stocks. Utilities were supposed to be the rock-solid stocks, thanks to the stable cash flow of the companies and their average dividend yields of 3% or even higher in some cases. Even during economic downturns, utilities' earnings hold up as consumers still need water and power.

All those theories may be true, but utilities stocks have been the hardest hit by the increasingly realization that interest rates may be on the rise. Stocks in the utilities sector fell 5.1% on June 19 and June 20, the days when the broad market suffered large losses as the Fed warned it might start slowing down debt purchases, which will allow interest rates to rise.

Suddenly, investors who bought utilities stocks for yield were less tempted as the rates of less risky assets, namely Treasuries, rose. Similarly, real-estate investment trusts, or REITs, have been suffering as have consumer staples stocks. REITs and staples stocks, too, were popular with investors looking for income-generating investments outside the bond market. The downdraft in the performance of these areas serve up another warning that even "safe" stocks don't offer the same protection as bonds.